Federal employees as well as military personnel are working under a “big question mark” now that sequestration has become a reality, said a local union representative.

Base officials said in a Thursday press release that Camp Lejeune is planning for fiscal impacts. But exactly what those will be remains a relative unknown.

“We don’t know what to expect until we get guidance from the Department of Defense,” said Albert Burgess, the president of the Local Government Employees Union. “The only thing we know for sure is there will be 22 furlough days (for civilian workers) and that permanent employees will take a 20-percent pay loss.”

Due to the sequestration, which took effect Friday, temporary employees will be released indefinitely and term employees will not get their contracts renewed. According to Burgess, there are still many questions left to be answered by the Department of Defense, as well as Congress.

“As far as the execution of this goes, it’s contingent on what Congress sets forward and we won’t know that for a little while,” Burgess said. “We are already undermanned because of pay and hiring freezes. The base is only operating at 80 percent.

“Things are about to get much worse.”

According to Burgess, the government cannot use military employees to fix deficiencies in the civilian workforce — something that will result in “massive manpower deficiencies.”

“These cuts are indiscriminate,” Burgess said. “You really don’t know what parts are going to be affected because the furlough only takes care of $5 billion. It will cost more in the long run though because you won’t have civilian personnel to give the military optimal training.”

Base officials withheld comments on how training will be affected, saying it would be speculation at this time.

Both Burgess and base officials said employees should expect proposed letters about the furlough within the next month.

According to the press release, “those affected will be notified at least 30 days in advance” meaning furloughs will not go into effect until, most likely, mid to late April.

“Management and labor will come to an agreement on how to do the furlough,” Burgess said. “The process has yet to be identified with specificity, so there’s nothing definitive for us to tell anyone. All we know is that this affects everyone from first responders on the base to employees at the hospital.

“Productivity aboard the base is going to suffer tremendously.”

Sequestration will have far reaching effects on Onslow County, Burgess said.

“The loss of pay and jobs in Onslow County and Cherry Point is going to be widespread,” Burgess said. “It will greatly affect the community and the local economy. I just hope the community reaches out to our elected leaders and solicits their support. If they don’t figure something out it’s going to be a hard road for all of us.”

Page 2 of 2 - Camp Lejeune officials said any comments on second and third order impacts of the sequestration are unknown.

“The top priorities remain the requirements and readiness levels of the operating forces, wounded warriors and families,” said the release.

Contact Daily News Military Reporter Thomas Brennan at 910-219-8453 or thomas.brennan@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @thomasjbrennan.